by Mary Martel
Vivian,
I’m sure you’re wondering how I found you. You can rest assured, sweet sister, I have not found you and my daughter. Though, I have been diligently looking. In searching for you, I’ve also been searching for a magical means to find you. I came across something interesting. A spell that would transport my letter to you without actually knowing your physical location. Actually, I think it allows me to send the letters to wherever Ariel is. Blood magic is a wonderful thing, don’t you think, my darling sister? This way, you can hide from me all you want, but you’ll never really be able to escape me.
Poetic justice, if you ask me.
Not that you’ve asked me for my opinion on many things. If you had, then you wouldn’t have stolen my daughter from me.
I finished reading this letter and set it aside, on top of the other one I had read.
My hands were shaking.
This was crazy.
I snatched up another letter and almost tore the paper when I opened it.
My dearest Vivian,
Yesterday, our father died. He had a heart attack and it killed him.
Do you even care? I imagine you don’t. You were always such a greedy, spoiled little child. Father doted on you, always giving you everything that you wanted. Do you remember, Vivian? He’d go on and on about how precious little girls with magic were. The joke was on him, though, right Viv? His precious little girl who didn’t actually have magic at all. What started as his greatest achievement ended up being his biggest failure.
Is that why you took her? Because you were jealous that she had magic when you don’t? Do you remember the day she was born? The entire coven came for it, to witness the birth of a baby girl, one with two parents having magic. She was a miracle baby. She was my baby.
You took more than my baby from me. My beautiful Maude, she never recovered. My brothers, they never recovered. I was kicked out of my coven when they found out the lengths I was willing to go to in order to find you and get back my daughter.
All I had left was father.
And, now he’s gone, too.
I wish it were you who’d been put into the ground instead of him.
I put the letter down on top of the read pile and wiped away at the wetness leaking out of my eyes.
My chest hurt, and I struggled to breathe past the lump in my throat.
This was unbelievable. If what these letters said was true, I had had a family that loved me, wanted me, and my mother had stolen me from them. Then, she’d spent my entire life up until this point treating me like a lesser being because she was jealous of me because I was born with magic and she wasn’t. I could have grown up with people who would have treated me like I was precious. I could have grown up around magic and had people to teach me my craft. I could have met my grandfather before he died and maybe I would have loved him, and he would have loved me back. I could have had a mother who loved me and a father who was willing to do whatever it took to get me back, even get kicked out of his coven for it. And, from the sound of things, he never gave up and years later was still looking for me.
My heart broke for this man, whether we were related or not, my heart broke for him. He sounded like he’d lived half of his life in misery because of my mother. Something we had in common.
I didn’t think I could endure reading anymore of the letters. I didn’t enjoy crying and knew without a doubt that the remaining stack of letters would make me cry more tears.
I picked up the picture closest to me and held it up for examination. It had been folded in half for a good long while and had a white line down the middle of the picture as a result.
A young, teenage Vivian Kimber stood next to a slightly older looking man. He had his arm around her shoulders and their heads were pressed together. Neither were smiling, but they didn’t look upset, either. Just two people who were clearly close and comfortable with each other and not interested in smiling pretty for the camera.
The man was slightly taller than my mother and his frame was thinner. Their ash blonde hair looked to be identical in color and shade, marking them as siblings. Their eyes were the only major differences between the two of them. Where my mother’s eyes were blue, this man had lovely green eyes. Eyes that matched mine perfectly in color.
My breath caught in my throat and my entire body stilled. The man in the photo had my eyes. Or, did I have that backwards? Did I have his eyes? I think I did.
I think I was staring at a photograph of my father, my biological father.
And, I didn’t even know his name.
I looked at picture after picture of the two of them together. Christmas, Halloween, birthday parties, at the beach. They looked close, always with their arms around the other, posing for the camera and neither of them smiling.
I fell asleep with a heavy heart and a photograph of the man who was more than likely my father clutched to my chest.
I had never hated my mother more than I did in that moment and I desperately wanted to know his name.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Marcus Cole
The man I had been waiting for sat down in the empty seat beside me. The entire theater was empty except for two teenagers sitting in the way far back row whose only concern seemed to be learning how far down each other’s throats they could manage to get their tongues. I wasn’t very impressed with their effort, they should have been in school.
Then again, so should Ariel, and she hadn’t been to school in well over a month. I felt like the absolute worst parental figure in the known universe at the moment because I hadn’t even mentioned her going back to school yet. Her magic made her special and she didn’t belong in a school with normal children. She’d be better off being home schooled when she could learn at her own pace and a lot of that learning would have to do with magic. It wouldn’t hurt that she would be safe and protected better if she were home schooled.
I knew the James twins hadn’t gone to school before they moved in with Quint. Why they were going now was a mystery to me. Tyson hadn’t started going to school until a few years ago and I never understood that either.
“What happened to Vivian?” The man beside me spoke in a deep, guttural voice.
I had never been a man prone to violence, but I had a strong urge to turn in my seat and punch this piece of garbage in the throat.
Of course, I did no such thing.
“Vivian is gone,” I murmured, answering his question.
“Where?” He demanded to know.
Here was the problem, I had no idea where Vivian’s physical body had gone, but I thought she was no longer a member of the living. I had broken one of my own sacred rules and had used magic to scry for her. She was nowhere. Gone. Only the dead could not be found with scrying. And I had a feeling Vivian was good and dead.
“I do not know,” I answered honestly.
Rain Kimber turned his head to the side, looking at me.
His cold, dead green eyes, eyes the same color as Ariel’s, bored into me, making a chill slither down my spine. The man was empty on the inside and it showed in his eyes.
“Explain yourself, Marcus. And, I suggest you choose your words carefully.”
The man was tall, rail thin and had hair the same ash blonde color as Ariel’s and it hung down past his ears. He looked too young to have a daughter Ariel’s age, he looked more like his older brother.
Hatred churned in my belly, like a filthy disease, eating away at me. I absolutely loathed this man and I cursed the day he had come into my life. If not for him, I would simply take Ariel and run. My father had had the right of it, women should not be forced into certain things.
Ariel would not be subjected to anything she did not want. Quint was the only reason I felt comfortable leaving her. The young man was capable, ruthless and would have no problem standing by and watching as your body lit on fire and burned down to ash if you so much as breathed wrong in Ariel’s direction. I wouldn’t leave her otherwise. Quint was as fierce as a person could get, he had to be wi
th the way his father had raised him.
When I had told Ariel I planned on moving to be closer to my brothers family, I had expected her to say she would come with me. At the time, I hadn’t known she’d grown close to the members of the coven. If I had known, I still would have offered to bring her with me. It was her choice to make, not theirs. When Quint had told me she would be staying with them I pulled a hundred grand out of my safe and given it to him on her behalf. I would have given it to her but after everything I had seen in the few short months I’d been blessed to have her in my life, I knew she would not accept money from me.
“Marcus,” Rain growled in his gravelly voice.
Sighing, I cleared my thoughts and focused on the man. “When I got home after my brother passed, she was gone. Ariel claimed to have never seen her mother since she’d left with me in the middle of the night.” I shrugged my shoulders. “What was I supposed to do, hunt her down? I had a dead brother to put in the ground and a seventeen-year-old girl to take care of. I didn’t have the time to go looking for Vivian. I had assumed she’d met another man, probably a richer one, and had run off with him and left Ariel and I both behind. What more do you want from me?”
He leaned over the armrest that separated our seats in a threatening manner. The only reason I took it as a threat is because his body grew visibly tight, like he was ready to fight me at any given second if he had to. His cold, dead eyes never changed a bit. They also hadn’t changed when he’d talked about his sister or his daughter.
“What more do I want from you?” He whispered in a dark voice. “What more do I fucking want from you? I want what that bitch denied me. I want my fucking daughter.”
He stood abruptly and walked away on silent feet. His black trench coat billowed out behind him like a second shadow.
I turned my head back to the screen, not seeing the movie playing in front of me.
Instead, I was planning.
I needed to have a word with Quinton before moving. Quint had to know about Ariel’s dad, I had to tell him everything.
I waited fifteen minutes after Rain left before climbing to my feet and exiting the deserted movie theater.
The urge to run out and find Ariel, kidnap her and go into hiding was strong. I had to shake it off because I knew if I kidnapped her, Quinton’s coven would come after me and they wouldn’t stop until they found us, after that, things would get ugly for me.
I left the movie theater with a ball of dread sitting heavy in my stomach.
If I got in my car now and started driving, I could get there by midafternoon.
I wouldn’t rest until I spoke to Quinton. And, if he couldn’t keep her safe, I would kill him.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I sat up in bed and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I had slept the entire night without waking up once, and, if I had dreamed, I didn’t remember it.
I looked up at the dreamcatcher dangling from the ceiling and smiled.
The smile lived a short life because I noticed the letters and pictures spread out all over the bed. I must have fallen asleep while reading. There had to be years and years worth of letters, and I hadn’t even made it through half of the box yet.
Purring came from the end of the bed and I grinned at Binx who was curled up into a little ball besides my feet.
Yes!
I wanted to jump up and down and cheer.
I had successfully stolen Dash’s cat away from him. And, this had only been my first time staying here. I hoped I could continue to lure Dash’s furry little beast away from him on the daily and maybe, eventually, Binx could turn into my furry little beast. If not, I might have to look into getting one of my own so I wouldn’t have extreme pet jealousy.
Maybe I could see about getting one of those (so ugly, they were cute) hairless cats. They always looked ornery, and their wrinkles were adorable.
I wanted one.
“What do you think, Binx? A little hairless baby to play with? Or, do you think you’d get jealous and hate it for stealing away some of your lovin’? I bet you’d hate it.”
And, I was talking to a cat like I was a freaking crazy person.
There was a light knock on the doo before it was slowly pushed open.
Dash walked into the room wearing only a pair of black and gray pajama pants.
Did he have a thing against wearing shirts when he was at home?
“Hey,” he said. “I heard you talking. Who are you talking to?”
I smiled and pointed towards the foot of the bed towards his traitorous cat.
Dash sent a ferocious scowl Binx’s way.
“I wondered where he’d gone off too. He usually sleeps with me every night.”
I winced and apologized. “I’m really sorry for stealing your cat, Dash.”
The entire sentence had been a flat out lie. I wasn’t sorry in the least.
He opened his mouth but snapped it shut. His eyes roamed over my bed as he muttered, “What in the fuck is all this?”
My face heated. I had forgotten all about the letters and photographs scattered all over the bed. I would have pulled the blanket up to my chin to hide, but I couldn’t even do that because I had fallen asleep on top of the comforter. And, I hadn’t changed out of my clothes and into my pajamas. I probably looked like a rumpled mess.
I moved my pillow to my lap and scooted back until my back was pressed to the headboard with my legs stretched out in front of me.
I made kissy noises at Binx while I patted my lap and demanded, “Come here, pretty boy.”
Immediately, the dainty cat got up and walked towards me. He climbed on to my lap and plopped down, curling into a little ball. His eyes closed, and he started to purr.
Goodness, he was adorable.
“Ariel?”
“Yeah, umm…” I cleared my throat, and explained, “It’s all stuff I found hidden in my mother’s closet.”
I paused, thinking. My mother. Or, was it simply Vivian now? Aunt Vivian?
“It’s all letters from someone who claims to be my father. That my mother was actually his sister and she stole me from him because she was jealous that I was born with magic and she wasn’t, even though she was supposed to have been. There’s a man with her in the photos. He, Dash, it’s crazy, he looks just like us. Well, he looks more like me than her because of the eyes. I have his eyes. My mother’s eyes were blue and this man,” I leaned forward and tapped at a picture with my fingertip, “he and I have the same green eyes. It’s insane. And, in the letters he accuses her of stealing me away from him and he’s been looking for us for years. For years. It’s like he’s crazy. In one letter, he’s nice and friendly. Then, in the next, he’s telling her he’s going to find her and kill her for taking me from him.”
I stopped talking and slumped back against the headboard. Binx blinked big green eyes up at me, asking me to pet him.
“Jesus,” Dash muttered angrily.
He didn’t know the half of it. I didn’t tell him about crying over my findings or desperately wanting to know the name of the man who’d written the letters. And wanting to know how to send a letter via magic without knowing the persons physical location.
What was I supposed to say to him? Hey, Dash. Good morning. Thanks for letting me move in with you! And, oh, hey, guess what? My mother might not really be my mother after all. She might be my Aunt. And, my dad might be her brother. He sends her letters using some magical juju that seems to work far better than an address and a postage stamp because he has not one single clue as to where we are. And, sometimes he tells her he’s going to kill her. Other times he calls her “My dearest sister”. My real mother’s name might be Maude and my potential grandfather is dead. What are you making for breakfast?
Yeah, he didn’t know the half of it and I wasn’t about to share with him.
“Do you have coffee?” I asked hopefully and changed the subject. If he didn’t drink coffee I might have to rethink these living arrangements. I liked my caffeine and
if I had to be up in the morning I needed it to function. And I got whiney without my coffee.
He frowned at me and scratched at his beard. “There’s no coffee. I just got up and haven’t gone downstairs yet. I heard you in here talking and came in to see if someone else was here. I can make coffee for you, though, if you want me to.”
Boy, did I ever.
How sweet was he?
“I would love some coffee,” I gushed. “I don’t even care if it’s fresh. I would take yesterday’s coffee so long as it’s heated up in the microwave. That works for me.”
I would take day old coffee. Heck, I would take two-day old coffee. So long as I didn’t have to make it myself I would be happy with it.
I probably shouldn’t expect Dash to make my coffee for me and I certainly shouldn’t be asking him to do it. Forget this arrangement not working out for me, he was going to kick my butt to the curb before I even really moved in.
“I’ll make you coffee, sugar,” he told me in a soft sweet voice. “I’m going to warn you now, though. I’m going to call Quinton while I do it and let him know about these letters and photos. Knowing Quinton, he will probably rush on over before we are even off of the phone. I don’t want you to be surprised when he shows up here and badgers you with questions and demands to go through your shit.”
I wrinkled my nose.
“No, no,” I said. “Don’t you worry about Quinton. I know all about him. He probably won’t even knock on your front door before he just barges in. He does this to me all the time. And, I saw him to it to Tyson before when we were in his room. He didn’t leave until after he had bossed us both around and made Julian feed me.” I waved my hand at him, dismissively. “You go right ahead and call him. I know how to deal with Quinton. I’ve got him all figured out.”
Dash smirked at me and my mouth dropped open in shock. I think that was number three now, and there were no demons to be seen.
“I love my room,” I blurted. “It’s lovely. All of it. Thank you. I even like my tiny closet.”
“No girl likes a small closet,” he shot back.